James and Lily: Battleground
by MyMessyLittleRaindrops
Summary: It's their last year at Hogwarts and the Marauder's are determined to make it THEIR year with their first mission being: James gets Lily. With the two as Head Boy and Girl, can they finally put their differences aside?
1. Owl Post

**Disclaimer:** All characters and plots from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling

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><p><strong>James and Lily: Battleground<strong>

**Owl Post:**

'PETUNIA! WHERE'S MY WAND?', the fiery red head yelled whilst rummaging through a big pile of clothes in the middle of the floor of the blue bedroom.

A smug face appeared in the doorway, 'I don't know.', Petunia Evans said in an innocent tone, but with a big smirk on her face.

'Petunia', Lily growled, 'I know you have it, so give. it. BACK!'

'Why on earth would I want to touch that...that...THING!' Petunia spat at her sister.

'Tuney, please, I promise not to tell Mum and Dad, if you JUST TELL ME WHERE YOU PUT MY WAND!', Lily pleaded with her sister, making her bright green eyes as big as she could and pouting her lips in a puppy dog expression.

This would usually work, especially on her mother, if she wanted something. But Petunia's expression stayed as hard as stone. Lily sighed exasperatedly, and got up and put her hands on her sister's shoulders.

'For goodness sake Petunia, don't you realise how important this is? The train leaves in an hour and a half! I NEED MY WAND!' she yelled, shaking her sister slightly. For a few seconds the two sisters, so unlike, glared at each other until Petunia rolled her eyes and sighed.

'Perhaps Mickey has it in his basket', she said as she turned around and went into her own bedroom, slamming the door.

Lily, who was now fuming, stormed down the stairs to where her cat was asleep in his basket - lying next to her sleeping black and white furball was her wand. Picking it up, Lily was about to her to go her sister's bedroom to ask her exactly how a cat could have picked up a wand, when a tapping on the living room window caught her attention. There, perched on the windowsill, was a brown tabby owl holding a small letter in it's beak. Lily went to the window and opened it, carefully so as not to startle the owl. After taking the letter, Lily watched the owl fly away into the distance before turning her attention to the letter in her hand. It was addressed to her which wasn't surprising, seeing as Lily was the only witch in her family, so she was used to owl post. She turned the letter over to the printed red Hogwarts emblem, and noticed there was a strange object inside. Carefully opening the envelope, so as not to destroy the emblem, Lily pulled out the letter. It was written in a very neat, long handwriting which she recognised at once: it was the handwriting of her school headmaster, the slightly mad and very brilliant, Professor Dumbledore. The letter read:

Dear Miss Evans,

I hope you are well and had a pleasant summer break. I'm delighted to tell you that you have been chosen as the new Head Girl for this commencing year at Hogwarts. Enclosed is your new badge and you are expected to report to the Head's compartment at 11:15 on the Hogwarts Express, for a briefing of your duties and for you and the new Head Boy to get to know each other a little better. I wish you a safe journey to Kings Cross station and I shall see you on September 1st.

Your Headmaster,

Albus Dumbledore

As Lily read the letter, her expression changed from one of curiosity to delight. She reached into the envelope and pulled out the Head Girl badge which was red and glittered in the morning sunlight. She was still smiling to herself when she noticed the small note at the bottom of the page:

P.S: I thought it would interest you to know that the new Head Boy is James Potter.

Lily just stood there, the letter held tightly in her fist, her mouth gaping open, her expression that of complete shock. Then quite suddenly, the young red head screamed 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

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><p>'EXPELLIARMUS!'.<p>

'STUPEFY!'.

'REDUCTO!' A loud banging sound came from the room above the kitchen in the grand country house.

'Alright, alright, you win. _I'll_ do our packing', grumbled the tall boy with jet black hair and round glasses, whilst rubbing his shoulder, where a small burn mark had just appeared.

'Hahaha, YES! I told you, you could never beat the Sirius-ator!', said the other boy, who had long brown hair and was very good looking, whilst bounding around the big bedroom.

'Never, say that again. Ever', was the reply that could be heard from a voice inside the wardrobe.

'Alright Prongs, so maybe it wasn't one of my best', Sirius Black replied, sitting down on the camp bed. 'But in all seriousness, we do need to start planning this years pranks. It's our last year so we have to make it the Maurauder's Year. It's a shame Moony and Wormtail couldn't stay this week.'

'Yeah', said James absentmindedly, keeping his head low whilst putting pairs of robes into the two trunks.

'What's wrong Prongs?', Sirius said, looking at his friend with concern.

'Oh nothing, nothing, soooo the Maurauder's year huh?'.

'No, something's up. I _know_ you James, don't try hiding it from me.' Sirius said, nudging his friend with his foot.

James sighed, before saying 'It's just, you saying that this is our last year's made me realise. If I can't get Lily to go out with me this year, I'll probably never see her again. I somehow think she's not gonna wanna stay in touch', not looking Sirius in the eye.

Sirius eyed his best friend quizically before saying, 'You really care about how don't you? I mean, really REALLY care about her? Differently to how you've felt before?'.

'Yeah... yeah I do. How'd you know that?'

'It's just...you called her Lily. I've never heard you call her anything apart from Evans before,' Sirius said, giving his friend a small smile, 'apart from the things you mutter in your sleep that is. Gosh, you'd think you were Romeo and Juliet the way you go on about it!'.

'Oi!', James replied, hitting Sirius around the head with a Gryffindor Quidditch team-tshirt. A sharp rapping on the bedroom window caused them both to turn around.

'You get it Prongsy, you know I don't like owls', Sirius grumbled, holding up his hand to reveal a beak shaped mark in his index finger. James, chuckling to himself, went over to the window and took the envelope from the scrawny owl's beak, then gave it an owl treat from the bag on his windowsill, before turning to sit down on the bed next to Sirius.

'Ooooh, look, it's from Dumbledore! I recognise the handwriting from all those detention slips', Sirius said. James ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter that was inside. He quickly scanned the piece of parchment, whilst Sirius attempted to read it over his shoulder, before giving up and turning to the enevelope that lay discarded on the bed.

'Padfoot', James said, 'I don't think we need to worry about me not getting Lily', turning round to find Sirius admiring the shiny red badge that read the words 'Head Boy'.

'Head Boy Prongs! Bloomin' heck, this proves Dumbledore really is barmy! I mean, I'm pleased for you and everything mate, but honestly, I thought it would be Remus', Siruis said before turning back to his friend. 'Sorry, what were you saying mate?'

'I'm saying read the bottom line', James said, smirking and handed the letter to Sirius. Sirius quickly read the PS, a mischevious grin forming on his face.

'I think we've just found this year's first Marauder's operation', James said with a big grin on his face.

Sirius chuckled before saying, 'If the others agree to it, then Evans won't know what hit her!'.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Okay, so that's Chapter 1! I hope you all liked it and please review! Chapter 2 will be up soon! If you have any questions, you can just PM me :)


	2. All Aboard The Hogwarts Express

**All Aboard The Hogwarts Express:**

'HEAD GIRL! Wow Lily, that's amazing! I'm so happy for you!', said the girl with short brown hair, rushing over to give her best friend a hug.

'Thanks Mary', Lily mumbled hugging her friend back but looking like she might burst into tears at any moment.

'What's wrong Lil? Why aren't you happy? Head Girl's a great honour - everyone wanted to get that badge', Mary inquired, pointing to the badge that was neatly pinned onto Lily's black robes.

'I know, I know, it's just...'.

'What?'

'Ugh, I promised I wouldn't let it get to me but, the Head Boy's James Potter. Not exactly a match made in heaven is it?', Lily sighed.

'James Potter? No way! That's crazy! Dumbledore does realise what he's done doesn't he? He's created Marauder mayhem! They'll be giving us all detentions because we don't bow down on our knees to them.', Mary exclaimed unhappily, throwing herself back against the seat.

'EXACTLY! And I'm going to be expected to stop that! I mean Potter I could probably handle but Black and Pettigrew as well! Ugh, it's gonna be disastrous', Lily sighed.

'Well, what're you gonna do? You're not gonna give up the badge are you? Please don't Lily! You're the only thing between us and the Marauder's wreaking complete havoc around the school!', Mary said, looking at Lily with pleading eyes.

'Don't worry, Mary. I'm not gonna give up the badge', Lily said whilst Mary sighed, and relaxed back against the seat. 'I'm just gonna have to try and work with him as best I can. And I thought I was going to have a lovely calm year, without numerous immature comments made by certain arrogant idiots.'

'Maybe Potter's matured over the summer?', Mary said turning her gaze from out of the window at the green hills that they were quickly rolling past, back to her best friend. Instantly, both girls burst into fits of laughter at the ridiculousness of such a comment.

'Oh Mary I have missed you!', Lily chuckled. 'Ah well. I'll just have to spend as little time doing my duties with him as humanely possible!'

'Yeah but, it's Potter isn't it? He's, like, totally in love with you. I _doubt_ you're gonna get away with that. He's probably already gone to Dumbledore and asked for ALL of your duties to be done together'.

'SHOOT! DUMBLEDORE!', Lily cried, looking at her watch and then hurrying to the door.

'What? Where are you going?', Mary cried after her, watching her best friend hurry out of their compartment.

Lily half turned around and said, 'I'm supposed to be meeting Potter in the Head's compartment at 11:15! How bad is it gonna look if I'm late for our FIRST meeting?', Lily cried exasperatedly, running down the train.

'Good luck!', Mary called after her, chuckling to herself as she went back into the empty compartment. Except the compartment wasn't empty. Lying there on the seat, as if at great ease, with his long black hair falling into his face, grinning madly, was Sirius Black.

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><p>'No way! Is Dumbledore totally out of his mind?', Remus Lupin was looking from Sirius to James, his face resembling that of shock, but slight admiration, after having just been told about the letter James had recieved.<p>

'Yep! That was my reaction. Honestly, I thought you were gonna get the badge Moony', Sirius replied.

'Me? No way. I was surprised enough when Dumbledore made me Prefect, but I don't think he could've got away with making me Head Boy, not with my 'furry little problem'. Anyway, well done Prongs, you..er...deserve it', Remus said, hesitantly holding out his hand to James.

James shook it, saying 'Thanks Moony, but I don't really think I do. Not that I'm complaining - the Head's get free cakes at their meetings right?', he winked at Sirius.

'Ugh, sometimes I think Padfoot rubs off on you too much Prongs', Remus sighed, rolling his eyes at the pair.

'OI!', Sirius replied indignantly, 'I don't ALWAYS think about food'. Remus and James just looked at each other.

'Look, the trolley lady's coming!', James cried suddenly, looking out of the compartment door.

Sirius jumped up immediately, 'Where? Where?', he cried his face alight with excitement, which quicly turned to a scowl when he realised his friend were pranking him.

James and Remus were both leaning back against the seats in hysterics.

'You see what I mean?', Remus said in between hiccups.

'Yeah yeah. So I like my food - so what? There's nothing wrong with that.' Sirius replied, patting his completely flat stomach.

'So, does this mean we can get away with even more Marauder pranks?', the boy sitting in the corner piped up.

'_Exactly_ Wormtail', Sirius said, putting his arm around Pettigrew and turning to face James and Remus.

'Uh...slight problem. Lily?', Remus said.

'Ah yes, but if you hear Marauder Operation Number 1, you'll see why out lovely little Lily flower (James scowled, as Sirius winked at him; Sirius was now in the habit of referring to Lily as this, much to James' annoyance) will not be a problem. You see, Prongs over here is going to get Lily to fall so completely and utterly in love with him, that there's no way she could ever say no to him', Sirius said, smiling.

'Uh...Padfoot...about that...', James said hesitantly.

'So, we need to think of some ways to make our Prongs over here completely irresistable to Evans'.

'Yeah, Padfoot, about that'.

'So, I was thinking flowers, chocolates, romantic walks around the grounds, all that soppy stuff'.

'SIRIUS!', James shouted.

'WHAT? Yeesh, no need to shout Prongs', Sirius said, looking slightly taken aback.

'I was shouting because...oh never mind! I just think that the reason Lily has always had a...problem...with me was because of all the Marauder pranks and operations. Maybe we could lay off them for a bit? You know, be normal, responsible seventh years?'.

'Normal?', Sirius said blanky.

'Responsible?', Remus said, unconvinced.

'Yeah! I mean, we wanna make this our year - so how about we show everyone that we're not just a bunch of pranking idiots - that we're actually gonna get somewhere in life!', James said fiercly.

Sirius seemed to consider this before saying,'Well said Prongs! I mean, I wanna be an auror so I probably should try and actually revise for these NEWTs', sitting down next to James and patting him on the back.

'Don't worry James!', Sirius said earnestly seeing James' reproachful look, 'By the end of this year the Marauder's middle names will be 'Responsible and Hardworking''.

'I wouldn't go _that_ far Padfoot', Remus replied, whilst James smiled and started to get up from his seat.

'Where are you going?', Peter asked.

'Oh, I have to meet Lily in the Head's compartment for a meeting', James said, whilst opening the door to the compartment. 'Wish me luck', he said, slightly nervously.

'Oooh, wait for me!', Sirius said suddenly, bounding up from his seat to follow James.

'Ummm, Padfoot, you know you can't come right?', James asked.

'Duh! Anyway, why would I wanna sit in on your boring Head's meeting? No, I'm gonna go and say a little hello to the lovely Miss Mary McManus', Sirius said with a sly smile on his face.

'Oh give it up Padfoot!', Remus sighed exasperatedly, 'You've got less chance of getting with Mary than James has with Lily!'

'HEY!', both James and Sirius said, indignantly.

'Anyway, remember I'm the new mature Sirius Black! It'll be as easy as eating all those mince pies last Christmas!'

'Uhhh Sirius, what about the part where you threw up all over the dormitory floor?', James said, shuddering at the memory.

'Oh yeah, I forgot about that part', Sirius said, smiling awkwardly. 'Anyway, come on, or you'll be late Prongs!', he said quickly, pushing James along the corridor.

'Wow! He really is serious about this whole maturity thing!', James called back to Remus and Pettigrew, who started laughing, imaging their most immature friend actually worrying about being late.

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><p>'Oh God', Lily thought running down the train corridor, 'What'll he think of me? Late for the first meeting!'. She was so preoccupied that she didn't see James walking down the corridor, coming from the opposite direction, and she ended up running smack bang into his chest.<p>

'Whoa Lily, you're a bit eager aren't you?', James said, holding her arms and steadying her.

'I..I..I', Lily stammered, but she found herself unable to speak when she looked up. They were standing very close together and his face was just inches from her own. Lily had never noticed the unique hazel colour of James Potter's eyes and the perfect rounded shape of his mouth. 'There's something different about Potter. Has he always been this...this...gorgeous?', Lily thought.

'Lily, are you sure you're okay? I think you banged your head pretty hard.', James asked hesitantly.

'I'm fine', Lily stuttered, surprising herself by not moving away from James, before once again looking up into his hazel eyes full of concern, and quite suddenly, Lily fainted.


	3. Meetings and Emotions

'Lily, Lily, can you hear me? Lily, are you okay?'

Lily could faintly hear a familiar voice, though it sounded like the voice was coming from miles away. She could feel herself being shaken gently, and gradually became aware that she was lying down on something soft. Suddenly, Lily remembered what had happened - seeing James Potter and then feeling herself being pulled under a spell of unconsciousness, yet not hitting the ground - and quickly opened her eyes and pulled herself upwards; bad idea. All of the blood rushed to her head and she felt that familiar sensation of dizziness.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down Lily! You've just fainted, you shouldn't have sat up that quickly!', James said, his voice full of worry, 'Here drink this', he said, passing her a glass of water.

Lily accepted it with shaking hands and then said, groggily, 'What happened? Where am I?', she looked around and found herself not in the train corridor but in a plush compartment - it was similar to all of the other train compartments with two seats opposite each other, but on the seats there were soft, red cushions, the windows had a pair of curtains in the same deep red and there was a table underneath the window that could be pulled out if needed.

'Well, you kind of passed out after you banged into me in the corridor. I guess it must have been the hit on the head. And this is the Head's compartment, quite nice isn't it?' James replied.

'Mmm', Lily agreed not looking directly at James, knowing full well that it wasn't the bang on the head that caused her to faint. 'Hang on a minute. H-h-how did I get in here again?'

'Oh, well, I sort of caught you when you fainted and carried you in here. I thought it would be better if you had somewhere to lie down', James said, looking at Lily nervously, as if expecting her to throw a fit that he had carried her into the compartment when usually she wouldn't let him within a 10 metre radius.

'Right. Thanks, I think', Lily replied, trying to avoid looking at James. 'Wow, he must be really strong, I mean, I'm not exactly the lightest of girls', she thought, whilst trying to decide whether James did in fact look strong, without making it obvious.

'Uh, Lily, are you sure you're okay? Do you wanna see if I can find somewhere to check you over?', James said, snapping Lily out of her daydream.

'What? Oh, no, no, I'm fine honestly, I don't want a fuss', Lily quickly replied, thinking how embarassing it would be to have to admit to someone that she'd fainted. 'Anyway, aren't we supposed to be having a meeting?', she said, quickly changing the subject.

'Okay, if you're sure', James said looking at Lily one more time before pulling out the table from underneath the window and placing a piece of parchment on it.

'These are the list of main duties that we're expected to carry out over the year. These are the ones that need to be done over the year at Hogwarts and these are the ones we have to do now.' he said, pointing at different points on the parchment, 'By the looks of it, we could probably get away with doing them seperately if you wanted.'

'Well, we could do some of them together, I mean...after all, I suppose we have to get used to each other's company because by the looks of it', Lily said, looking at the list of jobs on the parchment, 'We're gonna be spending A LOT of time together this year'.

'Looks like we are', James replied smiling.

'Oh God', Lily thought, 'What's happening to me? Why am I feeling nervous around _James Potter_! And that smile, it's making my insides melt! I reckon James must be right - this is all because of that bang on the head. I hope it rights itself soon, this meeting's awkward enough...'

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><p>'WHAT are you doing in here Black? Go back to your own compartment!', Mary screamed at Sirius, looking as if she may explode.<p>

'That's not very nice! I do have feelings you know!', Sirius replied, feigning a hurt look.

'Oh don't give me that rubbish Black - everyone knows you don't care about anyone but yourself. Do you want me to go into the whole Margaret/Josie incident?', Mary asked him, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

'Yeah, alright, I agree I messed up then. But honestly, I'm different this year - I swear I'm actually not gonna get any detentions! Honest!', Sirius said with an enthusiastic look.

'Pfft, for you Black, that's about as impossible as ignoring a Slytherin hexing you!', Mary said.

'Okay...I won't get more than 10! That's my goal for this year.', he said, looking at Mary eagerly as if expecting her to congratulate him.

But Mary just rolled her eyes and sat down on the bench opposite him saying, 'So now that you've told me that, can you leave please?', gesturing towards the door.

'But that's not what I came here to tell you!', Sirius replied.

'It isn't?', Mary said weakly, feeling her heart sink at the prospect of having to endure Sirius Black for even longer.

Sirius, not noticing this, very matter-of-factly said 'No it isn't. I was thinking, seeing as our two best friends are going to be spending a lot of time together this year, maybe we should too! I mean, it'll be good practice for when I'm best man and you're chief bridesmaid at their wedding.'

Mary snorted before saying, 'First things first, the chances of Lily agreeing to marrying James are about as slim as you and old Snivellus becoming best mates. And secondly, NO! I refuse to spend more time with you than ABSOLUTELY necessary!'.

'Aha! But my lovely comrade James, like myself, has been transformed into a lovely, respectable, MATURE young gentleman over the summer.'

'Well, he can't be doing a worse job than you', Mary replied eyeing Sirius through slits.

'Oh come on, give me a chance! Just one, please - I don't beg often you know!'. Seeing that Mary was no closer to agreeing with him, Sirius said, 'Look, how about we start with something useful. You know I'm no good at History of Magic - you could be my tutor?'

Mary seemed to be considering this option when Sirius, knowing her weakness for Honeydukes sweets, suddenly said 'I could pay you in chocolate frogs!'.

Sirius portrayed a look of triumph as he could see by the look on Mary's face that he had finally won her over.

'Oh fine, Black, I'll tutor you for History of Magic then!', Mary replied as Sirius jumped up with glee.

'YES! Knew you'd come round McManus! How about we meet every Friday at 8 o'clock in the Gryffindor common room? Or would you like to go somewhere a little more private', Sirius said, winking at her.

'Oh get out Black!', Mary yelled pushing him out of the compartment and down the corridor.

'Okay okay, so common room it is then!', was the reply that could be heard as Sirius bounded down the train corridor feeling very pleased with himself.

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><p>'So how did it go Lily?', Mary asked her best friend as she handed Lily a chocolate frog.<p>

'Thanks. It was fine, we just worked out the duties and things like that - completely uneventful', Lily replied, not looking Mary in the eye. 'So, I hope you weren't too lonely without me?'

Mary not noticing Lily's uneasiness, groaned, 'Oh don't worry, one particular Marauder made sure of that!'.

Lily, nibbling on her chocolate frog, giggled, saying, 'Yeah, James told me he was planning on popping in and saying hello. So what happened?'.

'Oh Lily, I agreed to do something so stupid! I've told Black I'll give him History of Magic tutoring every Friday! Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have been so tempted by chocolate frogs', Mary groaned, picking up the one of the chocolate frogs on the seat and throwing it across the compartment.

Lily casually slid the pile of sweets away from her best friend, not wanting to be hit by flying beans.

'Well, maybe it won't be THAT bad?' she said.

Mary stared at Lily as if to say, 'Are you kidding?'.

'Okay, maybe it will then'.

'Ugh, to make it worse, he's attempting to be "more mature" or something like that. Can you imagine Sirius Black actually being a serious human being?', Mary said, smiling slightly at the thought, though trying not to.

'Haha, well I've got to admit, it's not the most believeable of things', Lily replied smiling back. 'James seems to be a bit more mature though - he didn't try to ask me out once!'.

'No way! I haven't seen any pigs flying?', Mary replied, pretending to look out at the sky, before turning back to her best friend.

'I know!', Lily replied, 'Next thing we know, Pettigrew's gonna be skinny!'

Both girls looked at each other and burst into hysterics, though both of their minds were clearly still thinking about certain Marauder's...

* * *

><p>James returned to his compartment to see a typical Marauder image: Sirius and Peter surrounded by sweets, scoffing their faces, and Remus reading a book with a half-amused, half-annoyed expression.<p>

'How'd it go Prongs?', Sirius asked him, his mouth stuffed with droobles.

'Oh yeah, yeah, it went fine, you know, just sorted out the duties and all that', James said distantly, his mind clearly not on the question.

'And Lily?', Remus asked with a careful tone.

'Oh, mmm, good, yeah, she seemed fine', James replied sitting down on the seat opposite Sirius, not looking Remus in the eye. 'Soooo, Sirius, how was your little meeting with Mary?', whilst Remus eyed him suspiciously.

'Oh it was really good! I actually think I'm getting somewhere with her! I mean, she didn't even hit me!', Sirius said excitedly.

James just looked at him, before bursting into laughter and helping himself to a chocolate frog.

Remus smiled saying, 'Sirius is very pleased with himself.'

'Yeah', Sirius replied, 'I mean, she's even agreed to give me History of Magic tutoring!'

'But you hate History of Magic', James said, eyeing his best friend quizically.

'Yeah, but it's the only subject I'm not getting O's in isn't it?', Sirius replied.

'But it's sooo boring!', piped in Peter, looking like he might fall asleep at the thought of it.

'Have you ever actually tried to listen to Professor Binns? It's actually really interesting - here I'll show you', said Remus, reaching up to get one of the books from the overhead lockers.

Sirius and Peter both looked at each other portraying identical looks of horror, before each grabbing one of Remus' arms and yelling 'NOOOOOOOO!', dragging their friend to the floor and tackling him.

But James wasn't paying attention to the commotion in front of him. He was too busy thinking about the way that Lily had been looking at him throughout their meeting. He couldn't remember her ever looking at him without pure hatred blazing in her green eyes, or her eying him through slits. Yet he was sure that she hadn't been looking at him with hatred. There _had_ been an emotion in her eyes, but James refused to let himself think that it wasn't nothing more than, perhaps, kindness, in case he was mistaken. 'I can't let myself get hurt again', he thought, 'Though maybe, if Lily at least doesn't hate me, this year will be different...'.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Okay, to reward you all for waiting so long, I made this chapter extra long! I hope you like it, I don't think particularly to be honest! I promise they'll be some drama in the next chapter. I'll try to update as quickly as I can but I have exams coming up so no promises, but it will be up by Christmas! :D


	4. Merry Christmas To All

**Disclaimer:** All characters and plots from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling.

* * *

><p><strong>Merry Christmas To All:<strong>

When the train finally arrived at the Hogwarts station, the sky was a deep blue and you could begin to see a few stars twinkling in the night sky.

'Oh I can't wait to see the Great Hall's ceiling! It always looks beautiful at this time of night!', Mary said to Lily, gazing up. 'It even smells different here! Oh I have missed it!'

Lily laughed at her friend, replying, 'Yeah, I know what you mean! Can you believe this is the last time we're ever going to arrive at Hogwarts?'.

Both girls suddenly looked very sad, as the truth dawned on them that it was in fact their last year at the magical school. They began to walk towards the carriages, just as the Marauders all clambered off the train. Lily turned around, bracing herself for the laughter she was sure would come, certain that James would have told his best friends about Lily fainting. But instead they carried on talking amongst themselves, James turning his head a little to smile at Lily, who blushed under his gaze. Mary raised her eyebrows as she saw Lily blush, but Lily quickly ushered her towards a carriage, muttering, 'I'll tell you later.'

Unfortunately, the only carriage with any seats left happened to be the one in which the Marauder's were seated.

'OI! LILYFLOWER, MARY, YOU CAN COME AND SIT WITH US!', Sirius yelled at the girls, who both rolled their eyes at each other and reluctantly climbed aboard, James offering Lily his hand.

'Sorry about Sirius', Remus told them, 'He had a few too many chocolate frogs on the train.'

Sirius just grinned like a little boy, giving Mary a knowing look, who rolled her eyes at him, a slight smirk on her face.

There was a few moments of awkward silence as the carriage rattled along the dirt-trodden path, before Lily said, 'Me and Mary were just saying, isn't it sad that this is our last time we're ever going to arrive at Hogwarts?'.

There was various muttered agreements as the Marauders took in this fact.

'Oh, thanks a lot Lilyflower! Now you've just depressed me', said Sirius, who was looking particularly glum. Lily looked down into her lap, feeling guilty about causing Sirius' sudden change in mood.

James chuckled, before leaning over to Lily and whispering, 'Don't worry - at least now he's not hyper we'll get some peace and quiet!'

* * *

><p>The sorting ceremony and feast was a delightful affair. All of the seventh years were particularly making the most of the celebrations, especially Sirius, who ate twice his usual amount and went to bed feeling quite sick. Just as Lily and Mary were about to get into their four poster beds, Mary remembered something.<p>

'LILY!', she yelled, causing her red-headed best friend to jump and turn around in annoyance.

Mary pulled Lily down to sit on her bed with her, before asking,

'Why did you blush when Potter smiled at you? And why have you suddenly started calling him James?', with a quizical expression on her face.

Lily just looked down, embarassed.

'Lily...', Mary asked again, sounding slightly scared, but amused.

Lily groaned, before looking up at her best friend and muttering, 'I may be developing a slight...crush...on James.'

'NO WAY!', Mary yelled again, her expression that of shock.

'Shhh, keep it down! I don't want the whole dormitory to know!', Lily hissed.

'Lily Evans, I never thought I'd see the day! Blimey! Isn't it going to be a bit awkward at your meetings, I mean, I'm assuming you haven't told Potter.'

'Of course I haven't! God knows how he'd take it, probably well, too well! Which is why I'm not going to tell him; I'm sure it'll just go away. It's probably just because I haven't seen him for ages', Lily said mostly reassuring herself, climbing into her own bed.

'Okay, if you say so', muttering Mary, snickering to herself, knowing full well that this wasn't just a crush.

* * *

><p>The next morning, all of the students were given their new timetables for the year whilst eating breakfast and the first owl post delivery of the year took place. Sirius kept reminding Mary across the Gryffindor table, that tonight was their first tutoring session, much to Mary's annoyance. Just as Lily was heading off to her first lesson, Charms, James reminded her that their first Head's meeting would take place that evening; it was safe to say that for the rest of the day, Lily had butterflies in her stomach.<p>

* * *

><p>Lily was already outside the classroom door when James arrived. Just as he was about to open his mouth to apologize for being late, Lily said,<p>

'I thought it would be best if I arrived early, so we would avoid any...unnecessary collisions.', smiling.

James smiled back at her and opened the door to the classroom, gesturing for Lily to enter.

'So', began James when they had both seated themselves around one desk, 'our first task of the term is to make sure that the first years are all settling in okay.'

'Okay, well, if we talk to the prefects of each house and ask them to talk to the first years, perhaps every evening of this week, and then on Friday they can report back to us whether anyone's unhappy so we can talk to them', Lily replied.

'Sounds good', said James, scrawling that down on a piece of parchment.

Lily shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, before she finally plucked up the courage to ask James the question that had been bothering her since their meeting on the Hogwarts Express yesterday.

'James...I was just wondering...you seem a little..._different_...this year...like, more mature...and I was just wondering if there's perhaps a reason for that', mumbled Lily, nervously, trailing off at the end and not looking James in the eye.

James seemed to contemplate this before answering,

'I guess it was when I was given the role of Head Boy. I just thought, if Dumbledore's given me such a big responsibility, he must have done it for a reason, and I don't want to let him down I suppose.'

This wasn't the exact truth, but James knew that he could never tell Lily that he'd suddenly become more mature because of her.

'Well', said Lily, straightening up, suddenly feeling a little more confident that James wasn't acting like this for a joke, 'that's good. I've got to admit, I was a little...worried...about you being Head Boy, but now...well, it seems I don't have anything to worry about'.

James laughed at this, nodding in agreement, ('Yep, I would have been a little worried about me being Head Boy too') before turning back to their next task.

* * *

><p>Sirius was waiting impatiently in one of the chairs in front of the fire in the Gryffindor corridor, whilst Mary was still up in the girls dormitory, panicking.<p>

'Oh God! What have I let myself in for!', she thought to herself, before reluctantly looking at her watch and proceeding down the stairs to the common room.

Sirius' head whipped up like a dogs when he heard footsteps coming from the girl's dorimitory, then smiled as he saw that it was Mary.

'Come on McManus, I mean Mary, I've been waiting for AGES!', Sirius said.

Mary just rolled her eyes, before groaning, 'Look Black, I'm only doing this to be helpful and perhaps for the chocolate frogs too, so PLEASE, don't get the wrong idea.'

'HEY! I'm trying to be mature here and you're very much knocking my confidence!', said Sirius, pouting.

Mary threw her head back and fell back into the seat, roaring her head off at Sirius' attempt to look innocent.

'Oh Black, I'm sorry! But I most definetely CAN'T take you seriously with that face!', she said, giggling.

'How about if I put a bit of lippy on, eh?', said Sirius pouting even more, and swishing his matted hair about.

Mary squeled with laughter, as did Sirius at her reaction, but as soon as they both realised they were drawing attention to themselves, they leaned forward and opened their History of Magic textbooks, Mary blushing with embarassment, whilst Sirius portrayed his slightly arrogant facial expression, taking this in his stride.

* * *

><p>The next three months at Hogwarts continued pretty much in the same way; Lily and James had their weekly meetings, with Lily beginning to like James more and more as she realised it wasn't just a crush. Mary and Sirius were also continuing to have their weekly tuition sessions; Sirius had now learnt exactly what kind of jokes and antics would make Mary laugh, meaning that Mary would quite look forward to Friday evenings, knowing they would cheer her up.<p>

It was the weekend, and Lily and Mary were in Hogsmeade, Christmas shopping.

'Did you see James catch that snitch? I mean, talk about leaving it to the last minute! I honestly thought he was going to nose dive right into the ground!', Lily was telling Mary for the hundreth time, a look of awe on her face.

Lily had now learnt how to stop blushing under James' gaze, and was no longer awkard around him, so their friendship was blossoming. Unfortunately for Mary, Lily now spent most of their time together talking about James' talent on the Quidditch pitch (she now regularly attended his matches; 'In support of him!', she'd told Mary, who knew that the real reason was so that she could gaze at James without fear of him seeing), or how he managed to stun Sirius perfectly, in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Mary was instead looking at the particularly gruesome items in Zonko's joke shop, deciding what to get Sirius. She eventually picked out a packet of Puking Pasties and Skiving Snackboxes, to go with the many sweets she'd also got him from Hogsmeade ('Remus won't thank you for that - you know how hyper they make him!' said Lily when she saw them). They then headed over to Quality Quidditch Supplies, where Lily brought James a broomstick cleaner set and his very own golden snitch.

'You should have 'I Love You' engraved on it', Mary suggested, smirking, to which Lily scowled at.

After they had finally finished shopping, they both met up again in The Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer, after they had parted ways to buy presents for each other. Lily was already sitting down, sipping a butterbeer, when Mary finally flustered through the door, snow in her hair and her arms heaving with shopping bags.

Lily raised her eyebrows at the load and asked, 'Why do you have so many bags Mary? How much did you buy?'.

'Ohh, well, I had to buy some new make-up and hair accessories for tonight didn't I?', Mary replied, a twinkle in her eye, as she sipped the butterbeer Lily had brought for her.

'Why? What's happening tonight?', said Lily, confused.

'It's my big date isn't it', said Mary, smiling to herself.

Lily choked on her butterbeer, spluttering out, 'Your WHAT?'.

Mary patted her friend on the back before saying, 'Oh, didn't I tell you? Amos Diggory asked me out - you know, the lush one in Hufflepuff?', in an inoccent tone, knowing full well that Lily knew who Amos Diggory was.

'Oh, th...that's great Mary', stuttered Lily, feigning a smile, whilst thinking about how Sirius would take this news. Whilst their friendship had been blossoming, Mary had yet to notice how much Sirius really liked her...

* * *

><p>'Okay, move it to the left, a little bit more, little bit more. Okay, that was too much, now a bit to the right. Padfoot, are you paying attention?', yelled Remus.<p>

It was Christmas Eve and Lily and James had been given the task of decorating the Great Hall ready for Christmas, because Professor Flitwick unfortunately had had to go home early, ill with the flu. So, they had recruited the help of the other Marauders and Mary to assist them with putting up the Christmas tree, though they were slowly regretting that decision. Sirius was hyped up on chocolate frogs again, so was making the whole task a nightmare, much to Remus' annoyance.

'It's still not quite straight Moony', called James who was standing at the other end of the Hall with Lily.

Mary and Remus groaned, and again lifted up their wands.

'Okay, left a bit, left a bit! Sirius pay attention! Thank-you. Okay now Peter if you...Peter...Peter...WORMTAIL!', Remus shouted at Pettigrew, who had been distracted by the mince pies which were beginning to appear on the table, and so hadn't lifted his wand at the right time, causing the large tree to almost fall on Mary.

Everyone began to laugh, when suddenly the doors to the Great Hall opened and Amos Diggory appeared in the doorway.

'You ready Mary?', he asked.

'You bet!', said Mary, bounding over to him and giving him a peck on the cheek.

It wasn't until after they had both left the room that the Marauders and Lily all turned to look at Sirius. He was frozen on the spot, his face portraying that of deep sadness and anger. Suddenly, he ran from the room, slamming the door behind him. The noise echoed around the whole hall, before Lily broke the silence, by turning to James and saying,

'You go after him, we'll finish up here.'

'Are you sure?', James asked her.

'Yeah', Lily replied, whilst James hurried out of the room after his friend.

* * *

><p>James found Sirius where he expected to find him, sat under the old oak tree, just outside the castle. Sirius always came here when he was upset, though it was usually because of his family. He sat down next to his friend, who was skimming rocks into the Black Lake.<p>

'You okay?', James asked him, feeling stupid, knowing full well that Sirius was very _not_ okay.

'Look, mate, you're cut up, I get that, but, I think this is one of those things you're just gonna have to accept, that it wasn't meant to be', James said.

'But I really like her', Sirius replied quietly, not looking at James.

'I know Sirius, but...you're just gonna have to go with it. She doesn't feel the same way, but on the bright side, at least she's talking to you now.'

'I guess. I mean, I definitely prefer being mates than nothing'.

'Exactly, now come on, don't let it ruin your Christmas Padfoot. We'll go and get a mince pie, shall we?', James said, smiling to himself slightly, knowing Sirius could not resist the call of food.

Sirius patted his stomach, saying, 'Yep, it's definetely empty, but I think I'm going to need quite _a few_ mince pies', winking at James, who portrayed a look of horror at the thought.

* * *

><p>The Marauders, Lily and Mary were all sat in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table, having dinner and excitedly discussing their plans for Christmas. Mary had returned from her date earlier that evening, but had enough sense not to mention in it front of Sirius. Lily, James and Mary were all going home, whereas Peter, Remus and Sirius were going to stay at Hogwarts. Everyone was surprised when a scrawny brown owl flew in and dropped a letter on James plate; owl post was usually in the morning. Upon seeing the owl, Sirius immediately leaned away from it, much to everyone else's amusement. James gave the owl a few mince pie crumbs before opening the letter. As his eyes scanned the piece of parchment, his face expression changed from that of amusement to a slight sadness and he excused himself from the table.<p>

'Wonder what that was about?', said Sirius, helping himself to another rather large piece of Christmas cake, clearly not at all concerned about his friend whilst there was still food to be eaten.

'Dunno', replied Remus, who watched James with a slightly worried expression on his pale face.

'I'm going to go and see if he's okay', said Lily, watching James wander from the room. She took one last bit of her Christmas pudding and then got up and followed him.

James was sitting in an empty classroom, reading over his letter again. He turned as his heard the door open and saw Lily in the doorway, her red hair particularly lit up by the faint candlelight making her look very pretty, but she had a concerned expression on her face.

'Are you okay?', she asked him, slowly walking over and sitting down on the desk next to him.

'I don't know really', muttered James. He turned to face Lily, holding up the letter; 'It's from my parents. They just got a last minute offer to spend Christmas in Norway with a friend they haven't seen for ages. They've said they're sorry, but I guess it means I'll be sticking around here for the holidays. I was really looking forward to going home.'

Lily took a deep breath, looking at James' sad expression, and decided to finally show her true feelings. She leaned in towards him slightly, and whispered in his ear,

'Perhaps I'll have to stay here to keep you company then'.

James' face at first showed confusion and then his eyes widened, as he suddenly realised what Lily was saying.

'Took you a while to catch on', she whispered a slightly bemused expression on her face. They both slowly began to lean towards each other, whilst mistletoe grew above their heads, their lips just brushing together when the door was pushed open. They broke away slightly and both looked to see who had entered the room.

In the doorway, his greasy hair reflecting the light of the candles making him look very menacing, stood a very shocked Snape. His eyes quickly scanned the room; the mistletoe and how close Lily and James were and his expression quickly became that of realisation and deep anger and he instinctively drew out his wand. As he did so, James placed himself in front of Lily, in a protective stance, and began to draw out his own wand. But it was too late, Snape was already casting the curse.

Lily screamed, 'No Severus, please, DON'T!', as Snape pointed his wand directly at James' chest and yelled, 'SECTUMSEMPRA!'.

Everything seemed to happen very slowly after that; James fell to the ground like a broken warrior, his body covered in deep lacerations that were quickly pouring out dark, red blood, which was oozing onto the stone, cold floor. Lily immediately fell to his side, tears rapidly streaming down her face, as she yelled at Snape, 'Why? Why did you do that? What have you done?', before turning back to James.

Snape, who was still standing in the doorway, shocked by what he had done, quickly fleed the room, his hurried footsteps echoing.

'James! James! Come on, stay with me, stay with me please!', Lily cried, her hands covered in blood, as she attempted to stop the rapid flow.

'No! No! James stay with me, please don't go to sleep, please!', she cried, but it was too late, James' eyes had rolled back into his head, as he slowly slipped out of consciousness, into a world of complete darkness...

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>CLIFFHANGER! I literally only had this idea last night and have been writing all day, I only just made the Christmas deadline. So, my Christmas gift to you is a nice long chapter and an ending that will have (hopefully) kept you on the edge of your seat! Don't worry, my ideas for the next chapter are already flowing and I (hope) it won't be as long a wait, but I'm going to try and write more chapters this size from now on. :) So, please review, I would love to know your thoughts! Thanks for sticking with me. :)


	5. Firewhiskey and Flashbacks

**Disclaimer:** All characters and plots from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling

* * *

><p><strong>Firewhiskey and Flashbacks:<strong>

The snow was swirling thickly outside, silently whipping against the stain glass windows. Only one of the beds in the long room was occupied; a boy with messy black hair was lying completely still, his body covered in bandages, his face the colour of a ghost. Clutching his hand tightly, was a redheaded girl, who was sleeping in a chair next to his bed, keeping a strong bedside vigil. However, she wasn't sleeping soundly; Lily was tossing and turning in her sleep, having flashbacks to that fateful night...

_'I-I-I'll be back', she stammered, kissing James on the forehead, before rushing from the room to find someone. She remembered running, running from the room, her hands and face smeared with James' blood, her clothes stained dark red, feeling like she might collapse but knowing she mustn't, she must find help for James. As she frantically stumbled along the corridor, she felt a wave of relief wash over her when she saw the figure of Remus Lupin. _

_'LILY! Wh-wh-what happened?', Remus stuttered, a look of horror portrayed on his face, as he saw the blood._

_'It's not mine. It's James'. He's in there', Lily sobbed, her tears mixing in with the blood, pointing back towards the classroom where James lay unconscious._

_Remus' eyes went wide looking from Lily to the classroom with horror. His face turned gray and his scars were reflected in the candlelight._

_'Wh-wh-who?', Remus choked out, wanting to run towards the room where one of his best friends was severely hurt or to go and get help, but his feet seemed firmly glued to the ground because of the shock._

_'Severus', Lily replied quietly, looking down at the ground._

_This seemed to be the trigger Remus needed; he ran as fast as he could towards the hospital wing, calling back to Lily, 'I'll get help! Stay with James!'._

_Lily hurried back to the classroom, more confident on her feet now, and knelt beside him, stroking his hair out of his face and telling him over and over that everything was going to be okay. It wasn't until James had been carried to the hospital wing and treated by Madame Pomfrey, that Lily realised quite how tired she was. Sat in the chair next to James' bed, holding his hand and knowing that nothing else could be done for him, Lily finally gave into the tempting call of sleep._

* * *

><p>Footsteps coming towards her caused Lily to awake from her nightmares with a start. She noticed that it was still pitch black outside the window, so calculated it was still the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. She sleepily turned around to see Remus, Sirius and Mary; Peter had already gone home when they had found out about James. Lily was nervous of their reactions because none of them had seen James since before the 'incident' - Remus hadn't wanted to see him like that and, despite serious protests, the Professors had felt that Sirius was in too much of a state.<p>

Mary quickly ran to Lily and gave her a big hug. Remus collapsed into a chair, his face showing both shock and angst as he looked at James lying so still on the bed. Sirius' reaction was the worst. Although he didn't say anything, Lily thought she had never seen such sadness portrayed on anyone's face. He had tears silently falling down his face as he looked down on his unconscious best friend. Mary was the first to speak.

'So, what have they said Lily?', her lip was trembling as she asked, like she was too scared of what the answer to the question might be.

'He has deep lacerations on his chest, legs and arms. Madame Pomfrey has managed to stop the bleeding, but he lost a lot of blood and is in a critical condition, so they have to keep him here; he's too weak to be moved to St. Mungo's', Lily replied, her voice expressionless, like she didn't want to have to think too much about the words in which she was saying.

'So...what happens now?', Sirius said quietly, his voice sounding rough and broken.

'We wait...and we hope', replied Lily, tears beginning to fall down her own pink cheeks as she gripped onto James' hand.

'What happened? I mean, who cast the curse?', Remus asked, his own voice sounding raspy, like he hadn't spoken in days.

Lily looked up, her eyes suddenly filled with hatred.

'Snape', she said, her voice reflecting her anger.

'I think I'm going to be sick', muttered Sirius suddnely, running from the room.

'Should I go and see if he's okay?', Mary asked, watching Sirius hurry from the room.

She was just about to get up and follow him, when Remus said,

'Leave him. He won't want us making a fuss, he'll get embaressed. He'll come back when he's ready to.'

* * *

><p>Sirius had run straight to the nearest boy's bathroom, where he had thrown up in the toilet, until he was left retching. His head was currently resting against the door as he thought about all that had happened. It wasn't just seeing James like that, broken and bruised on that hospital bed, which was causing the nausea (though he did feel slightly faint everytime he thought about it); it was the idea of Snape hurting James when James was finally happy. Sirius cared deeply about his best friend and the idea of old Snivellus doing all this to him, and on <em>Christmas Eve,<em> had just been too much for him. Sirius finally heaved himself up from the floor, and went to one of the sinks to wash his mouth out. He then proceeded to the Gryffindor common room (he didn't think he'd be able to face seeing James like that again today) and trudged up to the dormitory.

He was just about to go and lie down on his bed and get some much needed sleep, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was a bottle of Firewhiskey, which had been left on his trunk, clearly a present from Peter.

'What a better way to drown my sorrows', thought Sirius as he unclicked the cork and took a swig. The liquid burned in his throat, and he could feel it pass through his system. Whereas Sirius couldn't normally struggle more than a few sips of this drink, the burning this time numbed the pain and before he knew it, Sirius had drunk the whole bottle. He then suddenly snapped his head up as an idea came into his head: to hunt down Snape and make him pay for what he had done to James. He quickly checked the Marauder's map, which was in James' draw; Snape was in the grounds, sitting underneath the oak tree. Picking up his wand from the bedside table, Sirius staggered from the room, a look of pure hatred and determination on his face as he thought about exactly how he was going to torture Snivellus...

* * *

><p>Mary felt exhausted. Although she hadn't exerted herself much over the day, the emotional strain they were all feeling was taking it's toll. Lily noticed Mary was trying to stifle a yawn and so told her friend,<p>

'Go up to bed Mary. You're shattered and you're not going to be able to sleep here, I know you.'

'No! You're my best friend you need me here!', Mary replied, trying to make herself look more alert.

Lily gave her a warm smile before saying, 'You've been a brilliant friend to me today but I don't want to feel guilty about you having a lack of sleep when it's unnecessary'.

Seeing her friend wasn't going to give in easily, Lily said, 'Look, I've got Remus here with me', gesturing to the young Marauder who was fast asleep in a chair beside James' bed, a troubled look on his face, 'And I doubt anything's going to change tonight. Please go and get some sleep'.

'Okay', said Mary, reluctantly but slightly relieved, 'Come and get me if you need me okay?'.

'Sure', Lily replied.

Mary walked sleepily over to the Gryffindor Common Room - it was completely empty of students as most people had gone home for the holidays. There was a small Christmas tree in the corner of the room, with small elves resting on the branches who were quietly humming 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs', but not even this could cheer up Mary. She felt like Christmas was over and was half tempted to rip down all of the festive decorations, but instead decided that sleep was a more inviting prospect. Just as she was about to open the door to her dormitory, she heard someone stagger down the boy's staircase. Curious, Mary went to have a look who it was and just caught someone with matted hair leaving the common room - Sirius Black.

Not wanting to attract his attention (for although Sirius was no longer obvious about his anger towards her dating Amos Diggory, things were still awkward between them), she quietly tiptoed after him. Mary could tell by the way he was walking that he was drunk and she noticed that he was muttering something about 'Snivellus is going to pay, I'd love to see the state he'll be in when I've finished with him'. She knew she should probably stop Sirius before he did something he would most likely regret, but she was angry with Snape too, and part of her did want to see him face revenge, so she merely carried on following Sirius. They carried on walking and when Sirius left the castle and headed towards the grounds, Mary was tempted to head back to the common room - it was cold and she had no coat on, when she saw him.

Snape was sitting under the oak tree, apparently reading a book, but his eyes appeared blank and his body shape suggested he was in deep thought. He jumped and his head suddenly snapped up as he heard Sirius yell,

'OI! SNIVELLUS! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY! YOU COULDN'T BE HAPPY FOR HIM, COULD YOU? YOU HAD TO TRY AND KILL HIM! OH DID YOU NOT KNOW, JAMES IS LYING ALMOST DEAD IN THAT HOSPITAL WING AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!', his speech was slightly slurred but this didn't stop Snape's face showing utmost fear and a slight guilt, as he began to back away from Sirius.

Sirius was raising his wand and was just about to yell out a curse, when Mary suddenly came to her senses.

'NO!'

Both Sirius and Snape turned around in shock, as Mary appeared from behind a bush and ran towards Sirius.

'STOP! Sirius, he isn't worth it! I want revenge too, but this isn't the right way to go about it. You resort to violence, you're not better than he is!', she panted, grabbing Sirius by the shoulders and looking him directly in the eye.

As Sirius lowered his wand, Snape uttered out a small, 'Thank-you'. Mary turned around, her face showing that of hatred, and she spat out,

'Don't think I did that for you! Go! You've caused enough trouble as it is'. Snape stood on the spot for a second, shocked, as Mary was known to be feisty but never like this, before nodding, and walking back towards the castle. As soon as Snape was out of hearing distace, Sirius broke down. He fell to the floor, sobbing, his face showing only that of anguish and pain. Mary's heart went out to him, and she sat down next to him, her arm around him, whispering over and over, that 'It's all okay, it's all going to be fine'.

When Sirius had finally stopped sobbing and there was only a few tears slowly trickling down his cheeks, he finally turned to face Mary. They were sat very close to each other, their faces only inches apart. Sirius slowly moved closer towards Mary and pressed his lips lightly against hers just for a second, as if waiting for her reaction. Mary looked at him, confusion in her face and then pressed her lips against his, her arms entwining round his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. They sat there for what felt like hours, but what was merely minutes, forgetting everything that had happened, just focusing on each other. Then something clicked in Mary's brain, and she untangled herself from Sirius, pulling away from the kiss. When Sirius looked at her, as if to say, 'What's wrong?', she just whispered, 'I can't', then got up and ran back towards the castle, her hand over her mouth in shock, crying.

Sirius just sat there in the grounds, feeling like his heart had been broken all over again, confused and upset, but no tears came this time. Finally, as he began to see the sunrise over the castle, he slowly got up and headed towards the hospital wing to see James. His head was spinning, though he wasn't sure whether it was the after effect of the Firewhiskey or what had happened with Mary. 'Mary', he thought, the name which now seemed to burn in his mind and cause anger to rise up in him again. 'No', he thought, shaking his head, 'I can't think about her, I've got to focus on James now. I'll just ignore her, she's made her feelings perfectly clear'. But he knew that just thinking he was going to ignore her was going to prove a lot less difficult than actually being around her, but Sirius wasn't going to let this stop him from visiting James. He had arrived at the hospital wing and took a deep breath as slowly turned the handle to the door.

* * *

><p>Remus had been able to sleep most of the night, unlike Lily, who had been unable to sleep at all. Although she was feeling absolutely exhausted and emotionally drained, she didn't want to accept Madame Pomfrey's offer of a sleeping potion, in case she was asleep when James woke up. Instead, Lily spent the night telling James the things she should have told him earlier in the year, but had been too afraid too.<p>

'You know, as soon as I first saw you on that train, I knew there was something different about you James. It was the way you looked at me I think. You weren't wearing that cheeky grin of yours that you put on when you used to try to ask me out. It was a different smile, a more mature one, that accepted that I just wanted to be friends with you. Of course, that wasn't quite the case. It seems the 'Potter charm' as Mary calls it, finally got to me. And you know what, I'm glad it did. I feel happier, safer, when you're around. I look forward to our meetings, to watching you play Quidditch. The worst thing about it all was that I thought, perhaps your feelings towards me had changed, but when I told you about how I felt and you smiled, it was like the best thing in the world. If only we could go back to that moment, before it all went wrong. I'm sorry James, because I know this is my fault, I may not have cast the charm, but I still feel like it was. I don't know if you'll blame me or not, so I'm saying sorry now, when you can't tell me not to.'

When the first ray of Christmas Day sunshine was reflected into the room, Remus woke up and saw that Lily's head was resting on James' shoulder.

'It's good she's finally getting some sleep', he thought, as he quietly got up from his chair. He looked down at James, before deciding it wasn't likely that he was going to wake up soon, and so tiptoed from the room in search of some food. None of them had had anything to eat the previous night and so Remus woke up ravenous.

As the door clicked slowly behind Remus, Lily stirred. She was still only half-awake when she felt James' hand lightly squeeze her own. Lily gasped, and then turned to look at her hands, unsure of whether she had been dreaming it or not. But then she felt it again, James' grip slightly stronger this time.

'J-J-James?', she whispered tentatively.

James' eyelids fluttered lightly, as he squeezed her hand again, even stronger this time.

'Oh come on, come on!', Lily thought, her insides exploding with hope.

James's eyelids fluttered for a few more seconds, before slowly opening to reveal his dark brown eyes.

'Y'alright Lil?', he croaked, looking up to see Lily smiling the biggest smile she had ever seen, whilst tears of joy cascading down her face. Lily nodded, saying 'Yeah, I'm fine James, I'm fine now.'

James' face then broke into a smile, that smile that Lily loved, that smile which could send her heart racing, that smile which she had been waiting for what felt like years to see again. Still gripping his hand, she said, 'Are you okay? I mean, are you in any pain or anything? Do you want me to get Madame Pomfrey?'.

'Nah. I'm fine, a bit sore but I've got my lovely Lily here haven't I?', he said, his voice sounding stronger now, as he patted Lily's hand lightly.

'Yeah, yeah you do. And I promise I'm not going to leave this chair until you're completely better', Lily said tears still gently trickling down her face as the reality hit her of how close she had been to losing James. James merely smiled at her, before they both turned as suddenly the door to the hospital wing burst open to reveal Remus, with Mary in tow, both of their arms bursting with food - plates of pancakes, toast, bacon, bowls of cereal and jugs of milk and pumpkin juice. It wasn't until they'd placed all the food down on the table in front of James' bed that they noticed he was conscious.

'Prongs!', Remus said, slightly shocked, his face breaking into a grin before sitting down on the other chair next to James' bed, 'You're awake! How are you feeling?'.

James chuckled at Remus' expression before saying, 'I'm feeling good thanks, it's still a bit painful but whatever Madame Pomfrey gave me is working. You okay there Mary?', he was looking at Mary who was stood at the end of the bed looking stunned.

She nodded, smiling, and patted his hand, before squeezing down next to Lily in her chair. Lily gave her a questioning look as she noticed Mary's puffy eyes, but Mary shook her head at Lily, giving her a look that said 'I'll tell you later'.

Just as Remus was reaching for a piece of toast, the door to the hospital wing opened again, but this time very slowly. Stood in the doorframe was Sirius, who seemed wary of entering the room, especially when he noticed Mary, but as soon as he saw that James was awake, all that was forgotten as his face streched into a big grin as he bounded down the room yelling 'PRONGSSS! YOU'RE AWAKE! AT LAST!'. Everyone laughed when he jumped over the table of food and onto the end of James' bed, careful not to land on his best friend.

'Yep Padfoot! I am once again conscious. Did you miss me much?', James chuckled, nudging Sirius lightly with his foot.

'Pfft!' Sirius said, waving his hand about as if to say 'Of course not', but James could tell from his expression that Sirius was in fact relieved and had been crying, though he didn't want to bring this up as he knew it would only embaress his best friend.

'Oh! I almost forgot!', Mary suddnely said, drawing everyone's attention. 'Merry Christmas everyone! It's Christmas Day!'.

'Oh, so I wasn't out long then', said James.

'Yeah, but it felt like forever', said Lily, holding onto James hand again, as they smiled at each other.

'We'd better get the presents in here then', said Remus, just about to get up from his chair, when a voice from the other end of the room startled them.

'There will be no need. I have already had them delivered here for you', the unmistakable soft voice of their headmaster caused them all to turn. Walking towards them, carrying a pile of presents in his arms, was Professor Dumbledore, who was wearing red and green robes which had various christmas objects pinned to them, and a christmas hat which was slightly skewiff, like his moon-shaped spectacles. He placed the presents down on the table with the food before saying,

'I thought that you would all need some cheering up after what happened last night. I trust that you are feeling better Mr Potter?', looking down his glasses at James with a kind smile.

'Yes thank-you sir. Much better', replied James.

'Good', said Dumbledore, straightening up, a satisfied look on his face. 'Well, I shall leave you all to the joys of opening presents, I must go and find Professor McGonogall. I will have 5 plates of Christmas dinner sent up for you to eat here, I trust that you are all going to keep Mr Potter company?'

They all nodded, so Dumbledore finally said, 'Well, there is not much left to say apart from that I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Mr Potter, also a quick recovery'.

'Thank-you Professor', they all said after him, as Dumbledore exited the room with a twinkle in his eye. Then they all turned back to each other, as Remus began handing out presents, abandoning his piece of toast. They had a wonderful morning together, laughing and opening presents, though there was a noticable tension between Mary and Sirius, but neither of them allowed it to spoil their Christmas Day.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until later that evening when they all felt fit to burst with Christmas food, that Remus, Mary and Sirius finally went up to the Gryffindor Common Room for some sleep; Sirius hadn't wanted to leave, but Remus knew that he hadn't slept at all the night before so, after some persuasion from James, Sirius finally agreed to return to the dormitory for the night. Lily was keeping her promise, to stay with James until he was well enough to leave the hospital wing. As the door closed behind them, Lily turned back around to face James, who was sitting up, propped against his pillows, facing her. They hadn't really had much chance to talk in the day, and so Lily was feeling slightly nervous. After a few minutes of silence, James finally said,<p>

'Lily, I have to ask you something. Everything's still a bit blurred and so I don't know whether this really happened or not', he was looking at Lily, feeling a little aprehensive. Lily nodded so James continued, 'I remember getting the letter from my parents, saying they were going to Norway, but then after that, I think I remember you saying you'll stay at Hogwarts too and then you looked at me, like...like', He sighed before continuing, 'Did...did you really say 'Took you a while to catch on?'. James was now looking very confused and slightly sad as he rested his eyes on Lily, waiting for an answer.

In that moment, when James looked at her, all of Lily's nerves dissapeared and she smiled to herself. Instead of answering him, she lightly put her hands on James shoulders and leaned in towards him, so there was only a short distance between them. 'Yes', she breathed. All of James' defences that he had been building up, so that he wouldn't get his hurt again, broke down and he leaned in towards Lily, wrapping his arms around her neck, and pressed his lips against hers. Lily's insides melted as she responded to the kiss and she moved her hands down to James' waist, where she wrapped them tightly. Finally, they both broke away gently, smiling at each other.

'You need to get some sleep', Lily whispered, though not pulling away any further from James. He groaned quietly, before looking at Lily with puppy dog eyes. She giggled, before leaning in for one last kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Okay, first things first, THIS STORY ISN'T OVER! I just felt like ending on a bit of fluff ;). I again want to thank you all for staying with the story and I hope to update soon, though I go back to school tomorrow and have an exam next week, so updates may be a little slower, for which I apologise! I would love to know your thoughts so please, review the chapter! Thanks again :D.


	6. Auld Lang Syne

**Disclaimer:** All characters and plots from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling, I take no credit for anyone of it.

* * *

><p><strong>Auld Lang Syne (Happy New Year):<strong>

'He shoots and he scores!', Sirius yelled, getting up from the end of James' bed and doing a victory dance around the hospital wing.

'Sirius Black is officially the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean Challenge champion!', he sang as he finished his dance and jumped back onto the foot of his best friend's bed.

It was Boxing Day; Remus was up in the boys dormitory, finally getting some well-deserved rest and, after finally persuading Lily to go and have breakfast in the Great Hall with Mary, James and Sirius had been trying to see who could throw the most Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans into the other's mouth without missing, for about an hour that morning and Sirius had just won, after having only missed James' mouth once (although, in Sirius' opinion, James had ducked).

'Uh, yeah, I don't think today's match counts Padfoot, I mean I am handicapped', James pointed out, holding up his right arm, which was tighly wrapped in a sling.

'Excuses, excuses Prongs', replied Sirius, waving away James' complaint.

'So, what are we gonna do today?', Sirius asked, popping another bean into his mouth, then screwing up his face, and uttering, 'Ugh, earwax', spitting out the bean.

'Well, it's not gonna be Quidditch Practice, that's for sure', James grumbled, looking extremely annoyed, 'Madame Pomfrey says I'm not allowed on a broomstick until the New Year'.

'Hard luck Prongs', Sirius told him, before his face lit up, indicating he'd come up with an idea. 'How about we plan some pranks, you know, let the New Year go off with a bang!'.

'I hate to burst your bubble Padfoot, but Lily's going to be coming back in a while and I somehow _don't_ think she's going to approve of you planning to set off a 'The Year of The Marauder's' firework', James told his best friend, an apprehensive look on his face.

'How did you know that was what I was going to get the firework to say?', Sirius asked, whilst James laughed at his best friend's face confused expression.

'Because, you're so predictable Padfoot. Besides, that's what you tried to do last year, remember? Except it went wrong and ended up setting Dumbledore's beard on fire?', James said.

'Oh yeah, that was pretty good', Sirius chuckled, smiling at the memory. 'And how, when his beard eventually did grow back, it spelled out the word Maurauder - I'd say that was even worth the ten weeks worth of cleaning out cauldrons'. Both boys smiled at the memory, especially the look on Professor McGonagall's face when the words 'Happy New Year' spelled out in fire had appeared and began to chase Snape around the Great Hall.

'Yep, it was definetely one of our finest moments', James agreed.

'So, what are we gonna do today then?', Sirius asked again.

'How about we talk about what's going in with Mary?' James asked, sounding as if he was slightly worried of his best friend's reponse; he and Sirius had always joked about his crush on Mary, but they both knew that James was being serious this time.

'What are you talking about?', Sirius asked uncomfortably, not looking at James.

'Come on Padfoot, I've known you for six years and you're my best friend, did you think I wouldn't notice how you and Mary spent the entirety of Christmas Day completely avoiding each other?', James said quietly.

Sirius continued to ignore James, but James knew that if he just waited, Sirius would crack eventually. Sure enough, after a few minutes of complete silence, Sirius slowly turned to face his best friend, a pained expression on his face.

'I kissed her', he murmered.

'What? Padfoot, wh-what...when?', James stuttered, looking utterly shocked.

'Christmas Eve. I was upset about you being attacked and when I went back up to our dormitory, I saw a bottle of Firewhiskey, and I just thought it'd be the perfect way to sort of, drown my sorrows. But after I'd finished the entire bottle (James' eyes widened in shock at this, as he knew just how little his best friend could stomach Firewhiskey), all my anger towards Snape sort of elevated, and I decided to go after him. I was just about to curse him when Mary turned up and stopped me, and I...I just sort of broke down. And Mary was there comforting me, and she was just so close and, well...', Sirius told James, in a very husky voice, like he hadn't spoken for days.

'Did...did she kiss you back?', James asked quietly, in a careful tone.

'At first yeah, but then, she just broke away and said that she couldn't and ran off. What the hell does that mean?', Sirius almost shouted, his voice returning back to normal, but angry and fustrated.

'Dunno mate', James replied, shrugging his shoulders, 'The wonders of women, I reckon we'll be forever trying to figure them out'.

Sirius just huffed, and pulled his shoulders up to his knees, looking thoroughly confused, but also very hurt. James hated seeing his friend like this, Sirius was always the joker of the group, who cheered everyone up, so it was strange to see him so upset. But James knew that, as much as it would hurt Sirius, he might have to face up to the fact that Mary just didn't like him in the same way he liked her. After a few moments, James asked Sirius,

'So, what are you going to do? Are you gonna carry on ignoring her?'.

'Yep', Sirius replied, back to his usual carefree tone, but his best friend could tell the pain was still there. 'I mean, she was the one who walked away, so she should be the one to make the first move'.

Seeing that Sirius was in a mood in which James knew it was impossible to argue with him, he decided to change the subject.

'Oi! Padfoot!', he said loudly and just as his best friend turned around, James hit him straight in the face with a pillow.

Sirius' face expression was one of both amusement and shock.

'Right, that's it, this is war!', he said, as he grabbed a pillow from the neighbouring bed, as James ducked quickly.

* * *

><p>'YOU KISSED HIM!', Lily shouted, complete and utter shock on her pale face.<p>

'Shhh! Keep it down would you, I don't want the whole dormitory knowing!', Mary hissed, looking around to make sure no-one had heard.

Mary had all but had to drag Lily back to their dormitory after breakfast, before she visited James, so she could inform her best friend of what had taken place on Christmas Eve.

'I can't believe it! I mean, I knew you too were friends now, but I didn't think you were that good friends!', Lily said, a slightly bemused expression on her face.

Mary just gave Lily a look, before rolling her eyes and saying, 'You know we're not. Look, he was upset, I was comforting him, he leaned in to kiss me, and I guess I just got caught up in the moment.'

'So it was _him _who tried to kiss _you_?', Lily said, like she was doing a calculation in her head, 'And _you _kissed him back?'.

'Yes! But, I didn't mean to! He was just so upset and well, you know. I just wish that I'd never led him on.', Mary said, slumping her shoulders, looking both sad and guilty.

'So was he upset when you pulled away then?', Lily asked gently, seeing her friend was genuinly upset about this, as she wrapped her arms around her best friend.

Mary nodded miserably, saying, 'His face Lil. I've never seen him so upset and it was all my fault!', tears were beginning to slowly fall down Mary's cheeks, landing on Lily's red jumper.

Lily wiped her friend's tears away gently, saying, 'What happened after that?'.

'I just told him I couldn't and I sort of ran for it! He hasn't spoken to me since', Mary wailed.

'Yeah, I noticed you two were a bit off with each other yesterday', Lily said quietly. 'So what are you gonna do now? You're gonna try to talk to him, right?'.

'I'll have to at some point, won't I? But not yet! I don't think I could stand having two fights at Christmas, if it doesn't go well that is. You understand right?', Mary said, turning around to face Lily.

'Yeah, I suppose. It'll give you both some time to cool off. Now dry those eyes, you. Come on, we'll go and visit James.', Lily said, handing her friend a hankerchief from her bedside table and getting herself up from the bed.

'Sirius'll probably be there, though, won't he? You go, I think I'm going to have a bit of a lie-down', Mary said, her mouth twisting into a sad sort of shape when she said Sirius' name.

'Are you sure? I thought you really wanted to help with the New Years Eve plans?', Lily asked.

'Yeah, I'm sure', said Mary, 'Tell you what, how about after my nap I plan out the invitations?', she added, seeing Lily's guilty expression when she said she wasn't going to escort her to the hospital wing.

Lily still wasn't sure about leaving her friend alone, but she was desperate to see James and knew they were going to need all the help they could get to have the New Years Eve party planned on time, so, reluctantly, she said,

'Oh...okay then, if you're certain. But PROMISE me you'll come and find me the minute you get lonely, whether you think Sirius is going to be there or not!'

'Promise', said Mary smiling, her hand on her heart.

Lily gave her friend one last small smile before turning around and heading to the hospital wing.

* * *

><p>James heard Lily coming before he saw her. Looking up when he heard footsteps, James smiled at Lily, as she carefully sat down next to him on the bed, and he wrapped his arms around her waist and gently leaned in to kiss her. Lily responded by entwining her arms around James' neck and leaning her body in closer towards his. After a few minutes, they finally broke apart, but only slightly, so their faces were still very close to each other.<p>

'Hi', James whispered, smiling with his usual lopsided grin, which made Lily's heart flutter slightly.

'Hey', she quietly answered, slowly running her fingers through his messy black hair. 'You feeling okay?'

In answer to this, James lightly pressed his lips against hers, just for a second.

Lily smiled, drawing back slightly, but so she was still leaning against James, and said, 'We're never going to get anything done at this rate.'

James laughed, saying, 'Well Padfoot's gone to get some parchment so we can write down all our ideas, so that's a start.'

'Oh, so that's where Sirius has gone', said Lily, looking round and realising that Sirius wasn't in the room. She then turned back to James and looked at him skeptically, asking, 'Are you sure you're okay to do all of this? I don't mind doing it with Mary, you know?.'

James just shrugged. 'It's my job isn't it?'

'Yeah, but I don't think even Dumbledore would expect you to work when you're ill!', Lily protested.

'It's something to do isn't it. Think how bored I'd get, I mean, it's not like I'm very mobile at the moment.', James sighed.

'I'm sure we could've thought of something', Lily whispered, giggling as she drew herself closer to James. However, at that moment, the door burst open and Sirius walked in, holding up several sheets of parchment. James and Lily quickly pulled apart, as none of their friends knew yet about the development in their relationship.

'Brilliant', said Lily, who was now perched lightly next to James, instead of leaning against him.

'So, what exactly is it you want me to do?', Sirius asked, looking aprehensive of Lily's sudden 'organisational' expression, as Mary called it. James smirked at his best friend, earning a glare from Sirius, as Lily began to explain the preparation for New Years Eve.

'Well, I've worked out that we have to create the invitations, organise the hall and grounds decorations, decide on the music, and create a food menu', Lily said, counting off the tasks using her fingers.

'Ooh!', Sirius suddenly said. 'Can I be in charge of the food! Please, I'll do it well Lily, honestly!', he was looking at Lily with his lopsided grin, but in a pleading tone.

'Actually, I do have to agree that Sirius probably would be the best man for the job, having eaten most foods avaible to man-kind', James added, in a serious voice, but with a grin on his face.

Lily was just looking at the two of them with amusement. 'Yeah, that's fine', she said happily, handing Sirius a piece of parchment. 'The invitation designs are already being sorted, so shall we work on the decorations?', she asked James.

'Yeah, sounds great', James replied, smiling at Lily, which made her pale cheeks pinken slightly.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until early evening when the two Marauders and Lily had finally finished their New Years Eve plans. Remus and Mary had made their way down to the hospital wing by then (Mary and Sirius were completely avoiding all eye contact) and they were just about to start a game of Exploding Snap, when Madame Pomfrey walked over to James' bed.<p>

'Well Mr Potter', she began, 'It appears that you're healing rather quickly. I'd say, as long as you stay in bed resting, there shouldn't be any reason why you I won't be able to discharge you in time for New Year'.

'Really?', James said, sounding hopefully.

'Really Mr Potter', Madame Pomfrey replied, smiling. 'Now, I'll leave you all to your game, but don't be playing too late, you need your rest don't forget.'

As soon as Madame Pomfrey had gone back inside her office, Sirius let out a big cheer; everyone laughed at him, before they all started joining in, their game of Exploding Snap forgotten.

'So you'll be able to come to the New Years Eve party then', Mary said, after they had all finally stopped their hysterics, 'That means you're not gonna have to go alone then Lil'!'

'Wh-what are you talking about?', Lily said nervously, like she was trying to hide something.

'Oh come on', Remus sighed. 'Do you really think we haven't all noticed how you and James are completely completely head over heels for each other? We've been waiting for you to get together for months, in fact!'.

James and Lily just looked at each other and smiled.

'You're all obviously a lot more perceptive than we gave you credit for', Lily said.

'Oh please!', Mary groaned, 'As if it wasn't at all obvious that you liked James, what with you talking about him _all _the time!'

Lily blushed deep scarlet and just glared at her best friend, who had a rather cheeky grin on her face.

Remus and Sirius both burst out laughing, but James just smiled and pulled Lily into a hug.

'So is that a yes then? Not that I was given the chance to even ask you to New Years Eve?', James asked Lily.

'Of course it is', Lily smiled, leaning over to give James a quick kiss.

'EW!', Sirius yelled, causing James to roll his eyes, 'Please, there are innocent eyes in this room!'

'Who?', James and Remus said at the same time, looking at each other like Sirius was slightly crazy.

Sirius looked around the room before saying, 'Damn! I forgot Wormtail wasn't here', earning a small laugh from James.

'Talking about Peter, has anyone actually written to him to tell him about what happened to James?', Lily asked, looking at Remus, Sirius and Mary.

'I haven't', Sirius piped up.

'Me neither', said James.

Everyone just looked at Remus.

'I'll go and get some parchment', he sighed.

* * *

><p>It was 6 o'clock on New Years Eve and there was a lot of commotion going on in the Gryffindor girls dormitory. It was half an hour until the ball began and, as most of the girls had come back to Hogwarts to bring in the New Year, the room was very crowded with various garments of clothing being thrown out of trunk and several cries of 'Have you seen my mascara?'.<p>

'Hurry up, would you Lily, I want your opinion on something before you leave', Mary drawled, banging on the bathroom door.

'Just one minute', Lily called back. Mary just groaned, before going to sit down on her bed and wait for her best friend to finish getting ready.

Lily had just finished applying her make-up and stood back to see what she looked like in the mirror. She was wearing a strapless deep blue dress that came to just above her knees with black tights and shoes that had a slight heel on them. She had put her hair up into a loose bun, with two strands of hair that she had curled slightly, hanging down on either side of her face; the foundation, light pink blusher and red lipgloss she had put on complemented her pale complexion perfectly and the glittery eye-shadow, smoky black eyeliner and thick mascara made her eyes glow. Feeling like she'd done all she could to her appearance, Lily looked at the clock; it was 6:05 and she'd promised to meet James (who had been discharged from the Hospital Wing earlier that day) 15 minutes before the ball began, in order to make sure that everything was in place. Quickly opening the bathroom door, she was greeted by Alice, one of her closest friends, saying, 'At last!' and hurrying into the bathroom. Smiling to herself, as Lily knew that Alice was also desperate to impress, she made her way over to Mary's bed.

'Aw Mary, you look gorgeous!', Lily exclaimed, as soon as she saw her best friend. Mary was dressed in a long, black dress with flat black shoes and she had straightened her glossy black hair, making her look stunning.

'Thanks Lil'! So do you! Bloomin' heck, you're gonna give James a heart attack with your beauty!', Mary replied, looking at Lily with satisfaction.

Lily giggled; 'Thanks Mary! Look, I'm so sorry that I have to leave you, but I've got to go and meet James, are you sure you're gonna be okay going down there by yourself?'.

'Yeah, I'll be fine Lil'! You know me, I love to make an entrance', Mary replied shimmying her hips with a cheeky smile on her face, causing her best friend to laugh again.

Lily gave Mary a hug, before getting up and saying, 'I'll catch up with you later'.

'You bet! You're not going abandon me all night, girl!', Mary replied, hugging Lily back before lightly steering her towards the door, 'Now go! You don't want to keep Mr Potter waiting, do you?'

* * *

><p>James was already waiting in the deserted entrance hall when Lily arrived. He was casually leaning against the wall, wearing a suit and bow-tie, but stood up straight in shock when he saw Lily arrive.<p>

'Wow!', he said quietly as Lily came over to him, a small smile on her face. 'You look beautiful Lily', he said, sounding in complete awe.

Lily's smile widened and she was grateful of the foundation which meant James couldn't see her blush.

'Thanks' she said, as James reached for her hand and placed a kiss on it. He then pulled Lily closer towards him and wrapped his arms around her waist.

'So are you sure I'm not allowed to kiss you until midnight?', he whispered playfully.

'Yep!', Lily replied, smiling, 'That way it'll be even more special'.

'If you say so', said James, removing his arms from around Lily's waist, and reaching for her hand instead.

'Shall we?', he asked, motioning towards the doors to the Great Hall.

Lily merely smiled and tightened her grip around his fingers.

'So', she began as they walked towards the Great Hall, 'Is there as much madness going on in the boys dormitory as there is in the girls, or are you all just there planning your next prank?'.

'Well, when I left Remus was tackling Sirius in an attempt to make him wear dress robes', James said very matter-of-factly.

Lily just burst out laughing, as she tried to imagine Remus forcing Sirius into a bowtie.

They both turned as the door behind them was swung open and in walked Professor McGonagall. Lily gulped nervously, unsure as to whether the Head of Gryffindor house would like the chosen decorations. After much debating, Lily and James had finally decided on dim orange flames for the candles and floating black and white lanters sky lanterns, with two large banners at each end of the Hall, which alternated between reading 'New Years Eve' and 'Auld Lang Syne'; James had also put a spell on the banners, so they would explode into colourful fireworks, which would swoop around the room at midnight.

'Well, I must say Mr Potter and Miss Evans, the decorations look marvellous! You've done a brilliant job, 50 housepoints, each!', she exclaimed, looking around the Hall with a look of pure delight, and even pride, on her face.

Lily let out a sigh of relief, as she and James both thanked the Professor.

'Well', said Professor McGonagall, looking at her watch, 'It appears that it is time for the students to begin arriving, so I must go and meet Professor Dumbledore. I hope you two have a lovely evening, and well done again on the brilliant decour of the room'.

She turned on her heel and headed towards the big doors of the Great Hall, leaving James and Lily stood there beaming.

* * *

><p>'Come on, let's go and find Mary, she'll curse me for abandoning her otherwise', Lily said to James and she grabbed onto his hand and pulled him through the crowd of people. The pair had spent the first hour of the ball talking to the Professors about the decorations and other plans for the New Years Eve ball and had just escaped from talking to Professor Slughorn, who had insisted on asking James and Lily about every little detail.<p>

After being unsuccessful in their search for Mary in the Great Hall, James and Lily were just walking through the Entrance Hall, when something caused them to suddenly stop in their tracks. Sat only a few feet away from them, looking utterly miserable, was Severus Snape. He was dressed in a pair of ugly brown dress robes, which were way to big for him, and his hair looked even greasier and dirtier than normal. He had looked up when he heard their footsteps; as soon as James set his eyes on Snape, he put his arm protectively around Lily, with his other hand gripped tightly around his wand.

Lily just glared at Snape, a look which pierced into his heart and caused his eyes to sting with tears. But instead of letting them flow, he blinked them away, and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something. However, Lily got in their first, before either of the men could utter a single word, still glowering at Snape.

'We don't want your petty apology. You make me SICK! You better not come anywhere near me or James ever again, or you'll live to regret it', she spat, before leaning into James, her other hand curled up in a fist, and led James towards the grounds, leaving Snape sitting there with a look of utter shock and deep sadness on his thin face.

* * *

><p>'There you are!', Mary cried, running across the grounds and over to Lily. 'Where have you been?'<p>

'Sorry', Lily replied, 'We got caught up talking to all the professors'.

'Yeah', James added, 'I've gotta say I never really saw Professor Slughorn as a person who likes a good old chat. How wrong was I.'

Neither of them mentioned their run-in with Snape.

'What are you all doing out here anyway?', Lily asked as she, James and Mary walked towards Sirius, Remus and Peter (who had arrived earlier that day), wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to keep herself warm; 'It's freezing out here'.

'Peter felt a little bit ill, what with all the heat inside and the fact that he and Sirius decided to have one of their 'Who can eat the most Chocolate Frogs in a minute' competition right before we left', Remus informed them.

'I don't think I even wanna know', said Lily, sounding slightly exasperated. As the sound of a new, more upbeat song began to play in the Great Hall, she suddenly perked up.

'I love this song!', Lily exclaimed, 'Come on, I wanna go dance!', as she grabbed onto Mary's hand, pulling her towards the Great Hall.

'Girls and dancing', Sirius said, watching the two girls go, 'I'm definitely up for it!'.

* * *

><p>The Marauders, Lily and Mary spent the next few hours either eating or dancing in the Great Hall. The Marauders very quickly learnt that Lily and Mary could dance very well, and they never seemed to tire at all. The girls had managed to persuade James, Sirius and even Remus to dance with them for a few songs, though they had all left Peter to sit on his own at the side of the dancefloor, as he still looked a little peaky. Everyone had 'Aaah'ed when a slower song came on and James had pulled up Lily to dance with him, the two of them swaying together in the dim candlelight. It was at this point that Mary suddenly grabbed Sirius' hand and pulled him into the almost empty Entrance Hall. Sirius, who was in slight shock, allowed himself to be pulled away and it wasn't until they reached the Entrance Hall, that he finally asked Mary what she was doing.<p>

'Sirius, we need to talk', she began, looking nervous. After Sirius just looked at her, she took a deep breath, and carried on, 'Look. What happened on Christmas Eve, it was a mistake. I never should have kissed you back. I really like you as a friend Sirius, but I just don't like you the same way that you like me and I'm sorry for that, but I can't change the way I feel. But the thing I don't regret is our friendship. I love having you as a friend Sirius, you always know exactly what to do to cheer me up and you're forever making me laugh. So please, I hope we can still be friends.'

There were a few minutes of awkward silence, as Sirius was contemplating what Mary had said. No matter what other feelings he had for her, he had to agree, he missed their friendship. So, after what felt like forever for Mary, he broke into one of his cheeky grins and said,

'Of course we can still be friends'. Mary breathed a small sigh of relief, before Sirius continued, 'Now come on, the countdown to midnight's gonna start in a few seconds, we don't wanna miss it, I have a feeling we're not gonna be let down by this year's celebrations', as he winked at her.

It was one minute until midnight and all of the Hogwarts students and teachers had begun the official countdown, shouting down the seconds.

Just as everyone had yelled, '40!', James grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her into a corner of the room, away from the others, so they could spend this one moment of the evening together. Lily smiled at James, her eyeshadow, glittering in the candlelight, as she wound her arms around his neck. He wrapped his tightly around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

'3...2...1! Happy New Year!', the Hall of people yelled, the banners turning into fireworks and everyone cheering and hugging each other. Not that James and Lily noticed; James slowly bent down and pressed his lips against Lily's. She responded with enthusiasm, and they just stood there, kissing deeply, in their own moment of bliss.

That was until, suddenly, a big BANG went off in the Hall, causing everyone to start screaming in panic, and James and Lily quickly pulled apart from each other, just in time to hear Professor McGonagall yell,

'SIRIUS BLACK!'

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>So I thought I'd end this chapter with a bang! You'll all have to see what happens to Sirius in the next chapter... ;). I want to apologise for the slow update, I just wanted to make sure this chapter was nice and long! I'll try to upload the next chapter as soon as possible - the good thing is that I already have it all planned out so the wait shouldn't be as long AND I have no exams coming up, which makes a change! I want to thank-you all so, so, so much for sticking with the story - your reviews really make me smile! I'd love to know what you all thought of this chapter - whether I'm doing Lily/James justice or not and what you like/don't like about the story, so please review! Thank-you so much again! :D.


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